Welcome to the 2018 Passover Season to which this is a short introduction for the benefit of those who are either new to the festivals of Messianic Israel or are messianic following Jewish traditions and are unfamiliar with the Creation Calendar, the ancient biblical form of time-reackoning that Messianic Evangelicals follow. The chart below explains the relationshyip between the several components of this season and when we observe them:

We are doing things a little differently this year. In the past we would gather for a morning assembly on Passover Day (which, like all days, begins at sunrise), although there is no mandate to do so and the only divine moed (appointment) on this day is the evening meal. So there will be no morning Passover sermon this year (which is traditionally about the passover story and the crucifixion which it foreshadowed). The first sermon of the Passover season this year will be tomorrow at Chag haMatzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread), which is a High Sabbath day. Those who would like to know how we observe the Passover Haggadah in the evening assembly can follow and/or use the 2014 edition which we are using again this year.

Pesach (Passover) 2018 also marks the beginning of the fifth year of the Last Exodus which began in 2014, a theme that will increasingly dominate in both our sermons and activities in the years ahead. This may well be the year of the Mishpatim Yahweh or Judgments of Yahweh that we have been preparing for for many years now.

This is an especially important time for the raising of a godly seed. If it isn't raised right, it can't be a part of the last generation who will bring the Last Exodus to completion, whose doings and the miraculous interventions of Yahweh in the journeyings back to the Promised Land will replace the traditional Pesach (Passover) narrative of the First Exodus in future celebrations during the Millennium when Messiah reigns in all the earth. Therefore you parents of this penultimate generation, prioretise quality over quantity:

"Do not desire a multitude of worthless children...do not rejoice in them unless the fear of Yahweh is in them...for one [is] better than a thousand" (Sirach 16:1-3, NRSV)

The time of great change is upon us and accelerating. We have got to learn - right now - to always stay ahead of the moves of the Adversary. There is no more time for procrastinating. This requires great attention to the Ruach (Spirit). NCAY is changing too about which more will be said tomorrow. A Blessed Passover Season to you all in Yah'shua (Jesus)!